American spiders and their spinningworkA natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits . , covered with brown sawdust. Figs. 127 and 128. Views after the outer coverings have been rempved. other Our American fauna has a number of closely related rep-resentatives of this strange genus, which are relegated by Emerton to vari-ous genera,^ and it is probable that their cocoonery nearly resembles thatof the above species. II. The most common Tuljeweaver in the Eastern States is proliably theSpeckled Agalena, Agalena nsevia
American spiders and their spinningworkA natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits . , covered with brown sawdust. Figs. 127 and 128. Views after the outer coverings have been rempved. other Our American fauna has a number of closely related rep-resentatives of this strange genus, which are relegated by Emerton to vari-ous genera,^ and it is probable that their cocoonery nearly resembles thatof the above species. II. The most common Tuljeweaver in the Eastern States is proliably theSpeckled Agalena, Agalena nsevia. Its funnel shaped nest, with its broadsheeted top spread over the grass or hedges, or stretched in mis-cellaneous sites, is one of the most familiar objects in our land-scape. Its cocoon is attached to some surface, as the leaf of atree, a rock, or the under surface of a loose bit of old bark. Inthis position Agalena spreads a circular patch a half inch or Tills is covered Tube-weavingAgale-ninse. more in dian^eter, within which .she encloses her eggs. Staveley, British Spiders, page 268. = Idem, page 205. See iiis New England Tlieridii<l< 122 AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. again with a thin slieet, upon which the mother overlays a wadding ofsawdust or pulverized bark gnawed from the surrounding surface. Inthe absence of such materials, the upholstery consists of any availablefibre furnished by the particular site. The whole is then overspun withan exterior covering. It is thus one of the most elaborate of knowncocoons, and apparently is as well calculated to preserve tlie life concealedwithin as any spinningwork that could be wrought by aranead spinningorgans. When Agalena cannot conveniently obtain sawdust and like material forthe upholstery of her cocoon, she will overspin her eggs without such pro-tection. For example, a female of this species was observed uponUpnol- ^j^g window of a chicken house, with a pretty tubular snare hunger ng against the frame
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectspiders, bookyear1890
